Advertisement providing system and advertisement providing method

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an advertisement providing system that takes advantage of the comment function of an SNS to expand Internet advertising, such as affiliate advertising, between members. Upon receiving a predetermined notification from an advertiser server, an SNS site control unit identifies a first user identifier associated with a second user identifier included in the notification and transmits, as content data, comment data including user information pertaining to a user of a second communication terminal and link information for a commercial website to a first communication terminal to which is allocated the identified first user identifier.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation Application of U.S. Ser. No.15/691,050, filed on Aug. 30, 2017, which is a divisional application ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/118,096, filed on Nov. 15, 2013,which is a national stage entry of PCT/JP2012/003231, filed May 17,2012, which claims priority to and the benefit of Japanese PatentApplication No. 2011-110851 filed on May 17, 2011. The entire contentsof each of the above are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an advertisement providing system.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, as a means for providing advertisements related togoods and services (hereinafter referred to as “goods or the like”) forwhich transactions are conducted over the Internet on a commercialwebsite, affiliate programs have been widely used. By using an affiliateprogram, an individual, business, or the like that provides goods orservices on a commercial website (hereinafter the “advertiser”) canreach a wider base of users with interest in the goods through theadvertisement carrier's website. Furthermore, an affiliate program isvery cost effective, since the advertising rate is normally determinedbased on performance. A conventional affiliate program providing serviceis disclosed in JP2007-193613A (PTL 1), for example.

On the other hand, a social networking service (SNS) is an example of amember service for constructing a social network over the Internet. Inan SNS, a social network is normally established by posting memberprofiles and other such information on an SNS site and having membersregister with each other as friends or the like. Furthermore, in an SNS,a unique webpage is allocated to each member for display of commentsposted by the member and by friends via a comment function on thewebpage, thus facilitating smooth communication between members. IfInternet advertising, beginning with the above-described affiliateprograms, can be expanded between members of an SNS using the SNScomment function, a strong advertising effect can be expected.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

PTL 1: JP2007-193613A

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

However, when using the comment function of an SNS to expand Internetadvertising, such as affiliate advertising, between members of an SNS,conventionally members/users themselves need to create comments, such asadvertising copy, individually. This is cumbersome for members and makesit difficult to create advertisements that attract customers.

In order to resolve the above problems with conventional techniques, thepresent invention provides an advertisement providing system that takesadvantage of the comment function of an SNS to provide advertisementsthat attract customers without members/users themselves having to enteradvertising copy or the like.

Solution to Problem

In order to solve the above problems, an advertisement providing systemaccording to the present invention comprises an advertiser serverconfigured to provide a commercial website for executing a commercialtransaction; an SNS server configured to provide an SNS site; a firstcommunication terminal configured to connect to the SNS server; and asecond communication terminal configured to connect to the advertiserserver; the SNS server comprising: a user management database configuredto store a first user identifier allocated to the first communicationterminal in association with a second user identifier allocated to thesecond communication terminal; and an SNS site control unit configuredto cause a display unit provided in the first communication terminal todisplay content data forming the SNS site by transmitting the contentdata to the first communication terminal; wherein the advertiser servertransmits a notification including the second user identifier to the SNSserver when the second communication terminal executes predeterminedprocessing on the commercial website provided by the advertiser server,and upon receiving the notification, the SNS site control unitidentifies the first user identifier associated with the second useridentifier included in the notification and transmits, as the contentdata, comment data including user information pertaining to a user ofthe second communication terminal and link information for thecommercial website to the first communication terminal to which isallocated the identified first user identifier.

In the advertisement providing system according to the presentinvention, the SNS control unit transmits an inquiry to the secondcommunication terminal as to whether permission for transmitting thecomment data to the first communication terminal is granted, andtransmits the comment data to the first communication terminal as thecontent data upon receiving the notification when, as a result of theinquiry, permission for transmitting the comment data to the firstcommunication terminal is granted.

In the advertisement providing system according to the presentinvention, the SNS server further comprises a performance reward controlunit configured to control performance reward usable on the SNS site,the user management database stores the second user identifier inassociation with the performance reward granted to the second useridentifier, and the performance reward control unit adds a firstperformance reward to the performance reward granted to the second useridentifier when the notification is received, and adds a secondperformance reward to the performance reward granted to the second useridentifier when a predetermined condition is satisfied.

In the advertisement providing system according to the presentinvention, at least one of the first performance reward and the secondperformance reward is further included in the comment data.

In the advertisement providing system according to the presentinvention, the predetermined condition is that a total number ofcommunication terminals executing the predetermined processing on thecommercial website reaches a predetermined number.

In the advertisement providing system according to the presentinvention, the predetermined condition is that the first communicationterminal connects to the commercial website based on the linkinformation included in the comment data transmitted to the firstcommunication terminal and the first communication terminal executespredetermined processing on the commercial website.

An SNS server according to the present invention is for providing an SNSsite, the SNS server being connected with an advertiser server thatprovides a commercial website for executing a commercial transaction andwith a first communication terminal, the SNS server comprising: a usermanagement database configured to store a first user identifierallocated to the first communication terminal in association with asecond user identifier allocated to a second communication terminal thatconnects to the advertiser server; an SNS site control unit configuredto cause a display unit provided in the first communication terminal todisplay content data forming an SNS site by transmitting the contentdata to the first communication terminal; and a reception unitconfigured to receive a notification that includes the second useridentifier and is transmitted by the advertiser server when the secondcommunication terminal executes predetermined processing on thecommercial website provided by the advertiser server, wherein upon thereception unit receiving the notification, the SNS site control unitidentifies the first user identifier associated with the second useridentifier included in the notification and transmits, as the contentdata, comment data including user information pertaining to a user ofthe second communication terminal and link information for thecommercial website to the first communication terminal to which isallocated the identified first user identifier.

A method for Internet advertisement providing according to the presentinvention is used in an advertisement providing system including anadvertiser server that provides a commercial website for executing acommercial transaction, an SNS server that provides an SNS site, a firstcommunication terminal that connects to the SNS server, and a secondcommunication terminal that connects to the advertiser server, themethod comprising the steps of: the SNS server storing a first useridentifier allocated to the first communication terminal in associationwith a second user identifier allocated to the second communicationterminal; the advertiser server transmitting a notification includingthe second user identifier to the SNS server when the secondcommunication terminal executes predetermined processing on thecommercial website provided by the advertiser server; the SNS serveridentifying the first user identifier associated with the second useridentifier included in the notification upon receipt of thenotification; and the SNS server transmitting, as content data formingthe SNS site, comment data including user information pertaining to auser of the second communication terminal and link information for thecommercial website to the first communication terminal to which isallocated the identified first user identifier, and causing a displayunit provided in the first communication terminal to display the commentdata.

Advantageous Effect of Invention

The advertisement providing system with the above structure according tothe present invention takes advantage of the comment function of an SNS,and an SNS site control unit automatically creates member comments inorder to provide advertisements that attract customers withoutmembers/users themselves having to enter advertising copy or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention will be further described below with reference tothe accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of Embodiment 1 ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the content of a user management table according toEmbodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates operations for comment posting according toEmbodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates the content of a comment management table accordingto Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates operations to display a comment according toEmbodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of displaying a personal page according toEmbodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a displaying a personal page of arelated user according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating operations of an advertisementproviding system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates the content of a reward applicable process managementtable according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates the content of a performance reward management tableaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates the content of an advertisement management tableaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates the content of an updated comment management tableaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of displaying an updated personal pageaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of displaying an updated personal page ofa related user according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of Embodiment 2 ofthe present invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates the content of a performance reward management tableaccording to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 17 illustrates the content of an advertisement management tableaccording to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 18 illustrates the content of a participating user management tableaccording to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating operations of Embodiment 2 of thepresent invention;

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of displaying an intermediate pageaccording to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating operations related to grantingadditional performance reward according to Embodiment 2 of the presentinvention;

FIG. 22 illustrates the content of an updated participating usermanagement table according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 23 illustrates the content of an updated comment management tableaccording to Embodiment 2 of the present invention; and

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating operations of Embodiment 3 of thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following describes embodiments of the present invention.

(1) Embodiment 1

(1.1) Overall Structure of Advertisement Providing System

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of an advertisementproviding system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the advertisement providing system in Embodiment1 of the present invention includes a plurality of communicationterminals 100, an advertiser server 101, and an SNS server 102. Theadvertiser server 101 is operated by the advertiser and provides acommercial website for goods, services, and the like (hereinafterreferred to as “goods or the like”). The SNS server 102 provides awebsite for a social networking service (SNS) (hereinafter referred toas an “SNS site”). The SNS site carries advertisements by the advertiserfor the goods or the like. In other words, the SNS site according to thepresent invention is a website of an advertisement carrier. Theadvertiser server 101, the SNS server 102, and the communicationterminals 100 are connected to each other over the Internet 103 by awired and/or wireless connection.

The communication terminal 100 is a communication device connected overthe Internet to the advertiser server 101 and the SNS server 102 by awired and/or wireless connection. The communication terminal 100 ispreferably a mobile phone, a tablet terminal, a personal computer, orthe like. FIG. 1 shows the case of a mobile phone, but this example isnot limiting. The communication terminal 100 includes a wirelesscommunication unit, a display, a keyboard, and the like and sends andreceives information to and from servers via the wireless communicationunit. For example, the communication terminal 100 receives informationconstituting a website from the server via the wireless communicationunit and displays the website on the display. In this way, a websiteviewer (hereinafter referred to as a “user”) using the communicationterminal 100 can view websites. Furthermore, the communication terminal100 is configured for input of characters, symbols, numbers, and thelike via the keyboard into registration forms, login screens, and thelike on a variety of websites.

(1.2) Structure of Advertiser Server 101

Next, the structure of the advertiser server 101 is described.

The advertiser server 101 includes an advertiser site content database(DB) 104, an advertiser site control unit 105, and a transactionprocessing unit 106. The advertiser site content database (DB) 104stores content data for the commercial website operated by theadvertiser and data on goods or services for which transactions areexecuted on the commercial website. Specifically, the advertiser sitecontent database 104 stores content data such as characters, symbols,numbers, images, videos, and the like constituting a webpage displayedon the commercial website.

The advertiser site control unit 105 controls the content data stored inthe advertiser site content database 104 to allow viewing by the user.Specifically, the advertiser site control unit 105 transmits the contentdata stored in the advertiser site content database 104 to thecommunication terminal 100 based on a URL transmitted by thecommunication terminal 100. The transaction processing unit 106 controlsthe transaction when a user purchases goods or the like on thecommercial website.

The transaction processing unit 106 retrieves user information (name,address, contact information, credit card number, user identifier(described below) used on the SNS site, and the like) transmitted by theuser's communication terminal 100 on a webpage for purchasing goods orthe like and executes transaction processing such as sale of goods,software licensing, service provision (monthly member registration), andthe like. The goods or the like may be free, in which case the creditcard number need not be retrieved. These transactions are preferablyexecuted with a secure communication protocol such as SSL or TSL. Whenthe completed transaction processing corresponds to a predeterminedreward applicable process, the transaction processing unit 106 transmitsa performance notification to the SNS server 102 via a communicationunit (not illustrated) in the advertiser server 101. The rewardapplicable process is processing for which points (described below) thatcan be used on the SNS site are granted when the processing is executed.The performance notification indicates that a predetermined user hasexecuted the reward applicable process. For example, the advertiserserver 101 keeps a table storing, in association, an identifier of goodsfor which advertisements are carried on the SNS site, informationindicating transaction processing pertaining to the goods, and anadvertisement identifier attached to an advertisement for the goodspertaining to the transaction processing. When the completed transactionprocessing is stored in this table, the transaction processing unit 106transmits to the SNS server 102 a performance notification including theadvertisement identifier corresponding to the completed transactionprocessing, the user identifier used on the SNS site, and the time ofexecution of the transaction processing.

(1.3) Structure of SNS Server 102

The SNS server 102 includes an SNS site content database 107, an SNSsite control unit 108, a user information control unit 109, a usermanagement database 110, a user identifier retrieving unit 111, aperformance reward control unit 112, a timing unit 113, a commentmanagement database 114, a reward applicable process management database115, a performance reward management database 116, and an advertisementmanagement database 117.

The SNS site content database 107 stores content data for the SNS site.For example, the content data stored in the SNS site content database107 is data such as characters, symbols, numbers, images, video, and thelike constituting webpages included in the SNS site.

The SNS site control unit 108 controls the SNS site content database 107and the databases described below so that users can view the SNS siteand post and display comments.

The user information control unit 109 issues a user identifier allocatedto each communication terminal 100 and associates user identifiers witheach other. The user management database 110 stores both the useridentifiers issued and those associated with each other by the userinformation control unit 109.

The user information control unit 109 allocates a user identifier to auser viewing the SNS site based on user preference. A user to whom auser identifier has thus been allocated is hereinafter referred to as a“member/user”. The user identifier is different for each member/user andis formed by characters, symbols, numbers, and the like identifying themember/user, for example such as “UID001”. The user may be allowed toselect a desired user identifier, or the username may be used as theuser identifier.

The user information control unit 109 preferably transmits a new userregistration form to the communication terminal 100 based on a requestfrom the communication terminal 100. The new user registration form isconfigured to allow for input of user information (username, name,e-mail address, and the like) and a password that the user wishes tonewly register. Upon receiving the user information and passwordtransmitted by the communication terminal 100, the user informationcontrol unit 109 verifies whether the same e-mail address as the e-mailaddress included in the received user information is already registeredby referring to the user management database 110. As a result ofverification, if the same e-mail address is not registered, the userinformation control unit 109 stores the received user information andpassword in the user management database 110. The user informationcontrol unit 109 allocates user identifiers as sequential numbers in theorder of storage in the user management database 110. For example,different identifiers are allocated to users by allocating “UID001” tothe first user stored in the user management database 110 and “UID002”to the next user. Note that when a terminal using a plurality of e-mailaddresses is used as the communication terminal 100, a user identifiercan be allocated uniquely to the communication terminal 100 byconfirming an identifier unique to the terminal in addition to thee-mail address.

Based on a request from the communication terminal 100, the userinformation control unit 109 also associates user identifiers that havebeen allocated to users with each other. Here, “associates useridentifiers . . . with each other” refers to storing a second useridentifier in the user management database 110 as user informationrelated to a first user identifier. Upon a request from the user'scommunication terminal 100 to register a related user, the userinformation control unit 109 preferably transmits a related userregistration form. The related user registration form is configured toallow a first user to input the user identifier of a second user (seconduser identifier) whom the first user wishes to register as a relateduser. The first user inputs the second user identifier via the relateduser registration form, and the input second user identifier istransmitted to the SNS server 102. The user information control unit 109retrieves the input second user identifier and associates the seconduser identifier as user information related to the first user. In thisway, a member/user can for example register a friend as a related user.Note that the information that can be input with the related userregistration form is not limited to a user identifier and may be ausername, e-mail address, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, whenstoring a second user identifier in the user management database 110 asuser information related to a first user identifier, the first useridentifier may be stored as user information related to the second useridentifier.

The method of registering related users is not limited to the abovemethod. An alternative example is to allow for the users registered onthe SNS site and their user information to be searched and to allow arequest to register a related user to be made by accessing, from searchresults, the page on which the profile of a user is displayed andclicking on a related user request button provided on the page.

FIG. 2 illustrates the user identifiers, and user information associatedtherewith, stored in the user management database 110 by the userinformation control unit 109. A variety of information is stored in theuser management database 110 preferably in the form of a user managementtable 200.

The user identifier is stored in the first column 201 of the usermanagement table 200, and the user information is stored from the secondcolumn onwards. The username is stored in the second column 202, thepassword is stored in the third column 203, each user's name is storedin the fourth column 204, each user's e-mail address is stored in thefifth column 205, and any associated user identifiers are stored in thesixth column 206. The number of points each user has is stored in theseventh column 207. In the user management table 200 illustrated in FIG.2, the username, password, name, e-mail address, associated useridentifiers, and points that are stored in association with the useridentifier “UID001”, for example, are respectively “Takuya”, “12bcdeaa”,“Takuya Tanaka”, “abcd@xxx.ne.jp”, “UID002, UID003, UID005”, and “430points”. Note that the information stored in the user management table200 is not limited to the above information. For example, informationsuch as place of birth, age, address, and the like may be stored.

The “points” referred to here are a privilege that can be exchanged forgoods, services, or cash, or that provide a discount when purchasinggoods or services. Points are granted by the performance reward controlunit 112 when a user registers as a member/user on the SNS site orexecutes predetermined processing such as purchasing goods or usingservices on the SNS site. The goods that can be exchanged for pointsare, for example, music data, image data, game software, and the like.

The user identifier retrieving unit 111 retrieves the user identifierallocated to a user when the user views the SNS site using thecommunication terminal 100. For example, the user identifier retrievingunit 111 retrieves the user's user identifier by causing the user totransmit predetermined information (user identifier, username, e-mailaddress, or the like, together with a password) to the SNS server 102 byinputting the information, using the communication terminal 100, into alogin form provided on the SNS site.

The user identifier retrieving unit 111 compares the user identifier andpassword retrieved from the communication terminal 100 with the useridentifier and password stored in the user management database 110,transmitting the user identifier to the SNS site control unit 108 if theuser identifier and password match. The SNS site control unit 108transmits content data for the user's unique webpage (hereinafterreferred to as a “personal page”) to the communication terminal 100based on the user identifier. As a result, the personal page isdisplayed on the display of the communication terminal 100.

The performance reward control unit 112 controls the usable number ofpoints within the SNS site for each user identifier. The performancereward control unit 112 grants a predetermined number of points to auser upon receipt of a performance notification. Based on control by theSNS site control unit 109, the timing unit 113 records the time at whicheach user makes a comment. The timing unit 113 may also record othertimes, such as the time at which a performance notification is received.

The comment management database 114 stores comments posted by users. Thereward applicable process management database 115 stores information ona user when the user executes reward applicable process. The performancereward management database 116 stores information on points granted bythe performance reward control unit 112 when a performance notificationis received. The advertisement management database 117 stores a varietyof information on advertisements which are carried on the SNS site. Theinformation stored in these databases is described in detail along withthe operations below.

(1.4) Operations of Advertisement Providing System

Next, operations by the advertisement providing system in Embodiment 1are described with reference to FIGS. 3, 5, and 8. FIG. 3 illustratesoperations for comment posting, FIG. 5 illustrates operations fordisplaying a comment, as FIG. 8 illustrates operations for automaticcomment posting executed when reward applicable process is executed. Theoperations below are described assuming that the user management table200 illustrated in FIG. 2 has been stored in the user managementdatabase 110 of the SNS server 102 in advance by new user registrationand related user registration.

(1.4.1) Operations for Posting a Comment

First, FIG. 3 displays operations when the communication terminal 100transmits a comment to the SNS server 102 by user input operation. Instep S301, the communication terminal 100 first transmits text data(hereinafter referred to as “comment text data”) including the useridentifier and the comment to the SNS server 102 based on the user inputoperation. Upon the SNS server 102 receiving the data, the SNS sitecontrol unit 108 refers to the timing unit 113 to retrieve the time ofreceipt of the data as the post time (step S302). The user identifier isdescribed here as being “UID001”, the comment text data as “Great, it'ssunny!”, and the post time as “3/22 6:30”. Next, the SNS site controlunit 108 retrieves the username of the user who posted the comment (stepS303). Specifically, the SNS site control unit 108 refers to the usermanagement database 110 to retrieve the username corresponding to theuser identifier. In this case, the SNS site control unit 108 retrievesthe username “Takuya” corresponding to “UID001”. Finally, in step S304,the SNS site control unit 108 stores comment data including the useridentifier, username, comment text data, and post time in the commentmanagement database 114, thus concluding operations for comment posting.

FIG. 4 illustrates information on comments that the SNS site controlunit 108 stores in the comment management database 114. A variety ofinformation is stored in the comment management database 114 preferablyin the form of a comment management table 400.

A comment identifier that uniquely identifies a comment is stored in thefirst column 401 of the comment management table 114, and the useridentifier is stored in the second column 402. The username is stored inthe third column 403, and the comment text data posted by the user isstored in the fourth column 404. The post time at which the comment wasposted is stored in the fifth column 405. In this case, the comment thatwas transmitted as described above is stored in the line for the commentidentifier “CID00125”.

(1.4.2) Operations for Displaying a Comment

FIG. 5 illustrates operations by which the SNS site control unit 108displays a comment on a personal page. First, in step S501, on thehomepage of the SNS site, the communication terminal 100 transmits alogin request to the SNS server 102 based on user input. The followingdescribes the case of the user identifier and password being included inthe login request, but instead of the user identifier, the username maybe included in the login request.

Upon the SNS server 102 receiving a login request, the user identifierretrieving unit 111 compares the received user identifier and passwordwith the user management database 110 (step S502). As a result ofcomparison, if the retrieved user identifier and password match apredetermined user identifier and password stored in the user managementdatabase 110, the user identifier retrieving unit 111 transmits the useridentifier to the SNS site control unit 108. The matching useridentifier is described here as being “UID001” (i.e. the username“Takuya”).

In the following step S503, the SNS site control unit 108 retrieves fromthe comment management database 114 a plurality of pieces of commentdata (username, comment text data, post time, and the like) for commentsby the user identifier “UID001” and related users of “UID001” in order,starting from the newest. Based on the content data included in theretrieved comment data, the SNS site control unit 108 builds a personalpage for user identifier UID001 and transmits the personal page to theuser terminal 100, thus concluding operations for displaying a comment(step S504).

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of comment data and other content datathat is controlled by the SNS site control unit 108, transmitted to thecommunication terminal 100, and displayed as a personal page 600 for“Takuya”, the member/user whose user identifier is “UID001”. At the topof the personal page 600, an avatar display region 601 displaying anavatar, photograph, or image of “Takuya”, a menu region 602 displayingmenu icons for changing settings, a comment input form 603 for inputtingand transmitting a comment, and a transmission button 604 are provided.At approximately the middle of the personal page 600, a comment displayregion 605 displaying comments posted by the user and related users isprovided. Furthermore, at the bottom of the personal page 600, anadvertisement display region 606 displaying advertisements by theadvertiser server for goods or the like is provided. The positions fordisplay are not, however, limited to the above positions. For example,the advertisement display region 606 may be provided at the top, theleft side, or the right side of the personal page 600.

When a member/user clicks on any of the menu icons displayed in the menuregion 602, a webpage corresponding to the menu is displayed. Forexample, when the profile editing icon is clicked, the user can change aportion or the entirety of the user information that has already beentransmitted via the new user registration form and stored in the usermanagement database 110. Additionally, a variety of setting icons, acomment history icon for displaying past comment history, a related userlist icon for displaying a list of related users, and a related userregistration icon for registering a related user are illustrated in FIG.6. The displayed menu icons are not, however, limited in this way. Forexample, a password change icon, a member search icon for searching forother members/users, and the like may be displayed.

The comment input form 603 and the transmission button 604 allow amember/user to post a comment on a personal page using the communicationterminal 100. A comment is formed by characters, symbols, images, andthe like and is a way for a member/user to express an opinion or toexplain something. After the user enters a comment into the commentinput form 603 and clicks on the transmission button 604, the comment istransmitted to the SNS server 102, and via the operations illustrated inFIG. 3, data for the comment are stored in the comment managementdatabase 114.

An advertising banner, text advertisement, and the like are displayed inthe advertisement display region 606 of FIG. 6. Link information forconnecting to the commercial website provided by the advertiser serverand an advertisement identifier are associated with the advertisingbanner, text advertisement, and the like. Link information is preferablyconstituted by the advertiser server's address (for example, a URL). TheURL of the advertiser server is described here as being http://URL001/.Below, the case in which the link information is the URL of theadvertiser server is described, yet the link information may furtherinclude link information for connecting to a particular webpagedisplayed on the commercial website. For example, the link informationmay include the address of a webpage that introduces particular goods.

In the comment display region 605 in FIG. 6, comments 607 and 608 bymember/user “Takuya” and avatars 609 and 610 for “Takuya” are displayed.A comment is thus displayed in combination with the member/user'savatar, making it easy to recognize which member/user posted thecomment. On the personal page for member/user “Takuya”, a comment 611for “Nami”, who is registered as a related user for Takuya, is displayedalong with Nami's avatar 612. These comments 607, 608, and 611 areretrieved from the comment management database 114, respectively havethe times 3/22 6:30, 3/21 20:30, and 3/21 18:20, and are displayed inthe comment region 605 in order from top to bottom starting with thenewest comment. Note that in FIG. 3, only three comments are shown, yetthe total number of comments displayed is not limited to three.Furthermore, the comments may be displayed in order from the oldestcomment, or a certain number of past comments may be displayed startingwith the most recent comment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a personal page 700 for member/user “Nami”,registered as a related user for “Takuya”. A description of portionssimilar to FIG. 6 is omitted. The avatar for user “Nami” is displayed inan avatar display region 701, and a comment by member/user “Nami” andcomments by “Takuya”, who is a related user for “Nami”, are displayed ina comment display region 705. On the personal page for each member/user,comments by that member/user and related users are displayed, which is auseful way for members/users to communicate with each other, asillustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

Note that while “Takuya” only appears as a related user for “Nami” inthe example in FIG. 7, comments by “Takuya” are also similarly displayedin the comment display region of any other users for whom “Takuya” isregistered as a related user.

(1.4.3) Operations for Automatic Comment Posting

FIG. 8 illustrates operations by the advertisement providing system forautomatic comment posting. Automatic comment posting is executed whenreward applicable process is executed by the communication terminal 100.First, in step S801, on the homepage of the SNS site, the communicationterminal 100 transmits a login request based on user input to the SNSserver 102. The following describes the case of the user identifier andpassword being included in the login request, but instead of the useridentifier, the username may be included in the login request.

Upon the SNS server 102 receiving a login request, the user identifierretrieving unit 111 compares the received user identifier and passwordwith the user management database 110 (step S802). As a result ofcomparison, if the retrieved user identifier and password match apredetermined user identifier and password stored in the user managementdatabase 110, the user identifier retrieving unit 111 transmits the useridentifier to the SNS site control unit 108. The matching useridentifier is described here as being “UID001” (i.e. the username“Takuya”). The SNS site control unit 108 transmits the personal page 600for the user identifier UID001 to the user terminal 100 (step S803).

Next, in step S804, when the member/user “Takuya” clicks on theadvertising banner or the like displayed in the advertisement region 317of the personal page 300, the communication terminal 100 connects to theadvertiser server 101. In step S805, the transaction processing unit 106executes transaction processing in communication with the communicationterminal 100. Upon completion of the transaction processing, if thetransaction processing corresponds to predetermined reward applicableprocess, the advertiser server 101 transmits a performance notificationto the SNS server 102 (step S806). The performance notification includesthe user identifier of the user of the communication terminal 100 thatexecuted the transaction processing corresponding to the rewardapplicable process, the advertisement identifier allocated to theadvertisement for the goods pertaining to the transaction processing,and the time of execution of the transaction processing. With thisperformance notification, the SNS server 102 can determine that thecommunication terminal 100 has executed reward applicable process.

Upon receiving the performance notification, the performance rewardcontrol unit 112 stores information pertaining to the performancenotification in the reward applicable process management database 115 instep S807. FIG. 9 illustrates a reward applicable process managementtable 900 stored in the reward applicable process management database115. A user identifier is stored in the first column 901 of the rewardapplicable process management table 900, and an advertisement identifieris stored in the second column 902.

The user identifier in the first column 901 is the user identifierincluded in the performance notification, and the advertisementidentifier stored in the second column 902 is the advertisementidentifier included in the performance notification. Note that theadvertisement identifier is an identifier for uniquely identifying anadvertisement and is allocated to each advertisement for goodspertaining to transaction processing. The time of execution of thetransaction included in the performance notification is stored in thethird column 903, and a status indicating whether points have beengranted to the user corresponding to the user identifier is stored inthe fourth column 904. It is assumed here that a performancenotification is received for an advertisement pertaining to useridentifier “UID001” and advertisement identifier “AID001”. Furthermore,the time of execution of the transaction processing is described here asbeing “3/22 10:00”.

Next, in step S808, the performance reward control unit 112 refers tothe reward applicable process management database 115 to retrieve acombination of a user identifier and an advertisement identifier forwhich the reward granting status is “not granted”. In this case, theuser identifier “UID001” and the advertisement identifier “AID001” areretrieved as the combination for which the reward granting status is“not granted”.

In the following step S809, the performance reward control unit 112refers to the performance reward management database 116 to retrieve thenumber of points for the advertisement identifier “AID001” for which thereward granting status was “not granted”. FIG. 10 illustrates aperformance reward management table 1000 stored in the performancereward management database 116. An advertisement identifier is stored inthe first column 1001 of the performance reward management table 1000,and the number of points is stored in the second column 1002. In thiscase, the performance reward control unit 112 retrieves 500 points asthe number of points for the advertisement identifier “AID001”.

Next, in step S810, the performance reward control unit 112 grantspoints to the user. Specifically, the performance reward control unit112 adds the number of points retrieved in step S809 to the points heldby the user identifier “UID001” retrieved in step S808. In other words,500 points are added to the points of the user identifier “UID001”stored in the user management database 110. As a result, the number ofpoints held by the user “Takuya” becomes 930.

Next, the SNS site control unit 108 refers to the advertisementmanagement database 117 to retrieve information pertaining to theadvertisement identifier “AID001” (step S811). FIG. 11 illustrates anadvertisement management table 1100 stored in the advertisementmanagement database 117. The advertisement management table 1100 stores,in association, an advertisement identifier, link information forconnecting to the commercial website provided by the advertiser server,and comment text data made up of a predetermined character sequence. InEmbodiment 1, the advertisement identifier is stored in the first column1101 and the URL of the advertiser's site is stored as the linkinformation in the second column 1102 of the advertisement managementtable 1100. The comment text data is stored in the third column 1103.The comment text data includes at least link information for connectingto the commercial website provided by the advertiser server. The commenttext data may further include the number of points corresponding to theassociated advertisement identifier. In other words, in step S811, theSNS site control unit 108 retrieves at least the comment text datacorresponding to the advertisement identifier retrieved in step S808 andproceeds to step S813. Note that the information stored in theadvertisement management database 117 is not limited to the aboveinformation and may include the advertiser's name, advertised goods,term of validity of the advertisement, and the like, and the SNS sitecontrol unit 108 may retrieve these pieces of information in addition tothe comment text data.

The SNS site control unit 108 terminates processing when theadvertisement identifier retrieved in step S808 does not exist in theadvertisement management database 117 (step S812). In this case, sincethe advertisement identifier “AID001” is stored in the advertisementmanagement database 117, processing proceeds to step S813.

In the following step S813, the SNS site control unit 108 refers to theuser management database 110 to retrieve the username corresponding tothe user identifier retrieved in step S808 and refers to the timing unit113 to retrieve the current time “3/22 10:10” as the post time. In stepS814, the SNS site control unit 108 stores automatic comment data in thecomment management database 114. The automatic comment data includes theuser identifier retrieved in step S808, the username and post timeretrieved in step S813, and the comment text data retrieved in stepS811. FIG. 12 illustrates a comment management table 1200 in whichcomments have been stored by the SNS site control unit 108. Asillustrated in FIG. 12, “Takuya: I got 500 points during a campaign! Getsome points with me

Image available on “Original document”http://URL001/” is stored in the comment management database 114 as acomment for user identifier “UID001”. The comment is stored in this wayby the SNS site control unit 108 when a performance notification isreceived from the advertiser server 101, and therefore users need notmanually post comments by filling out the comment input form 603provided on the personal page and pressing the transmission button 604.Accordingly, to users it appears that this comment has been posted anddisplayed automatically in the comment display region of the personalpage for user identifier “UID001” and of the personal page of relatedusers.

FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate examples of a comment created in this waybeing displayed on personal pages. FIG. 13 illustrates a personal page1300 for “Takuya”. A comment 1307 stored in the comment managementdatabase 114 is displayed along with an avatar 1308 for Takuya in acomment display region 1305 of the personal page 1300. The createdcomment is newer than comment 1309 and therefore is displayed closer tothe top of the comment display region 1310 than the comment 1309.

FIG. 14 illustrates a personal page 1400 for “Nami”, a related user forTakuya. A created comment 1407 is displayed along with an avatar 1408for Takuya in a comment display region 1405 of the personal page 1400.The created comment is newer than comment 1409 and therefore isdisplayed closer to the top of the comment display region 1405 than thecomment 1409. When “Nami” views this comment, she can see the linkinformation for the advertiser server 101 to which “Takuya” connectedand learn that he retrieved 500 points. Furthermore, since the commentis displayed in the comment display region 605 at approximately thecenter of the personal page, the link information for the advertiserserver 101 will not be overlooked.

(1.5) Effects of Advertisement Providing System of Embodiment 1

According to the advertisement providing system of Embodiment 1, when acertain member/user of the SNS executes transaction processingcorresponding to reward applicable process on a commercial websiteprovided by the advertiser server, a comment including link informationto the advertiser server is created, without needing to be posted byhand, and is displayed on the personal page of any user registered as arelated user of the certain member/user. Therefore, it is possibleeasily to provide advertisements that attract customers withoutmembers/users having to enter advertising copy and the like themselves.

In greater detail, when a performance notification is received from theadvertiser server 101, link information for connecting to the commercialwebsite provided by the advertiser server is included in the commenttext data that the SNS site control unit 108 stores in the commentmanagement database 114. For example, “http://URL001” within a commentis link information for connecting to the advertiser server 101 and canbe clicked by the user via the communication terminal 100. Accordingly,since a related user viewing the comment on the personal page can easilyretrieve the link information for connecting to the commercial website,the comment fulfills its role as an advertisement.

Furthermore, also including information on points that a member/user canearn by executing transaction processing corresponding to rewardapplicable process (such as information displaying the number of points,e.g. “500 points”) creates an incentive for members/users to visit theadvertiser's site using the link information and execute transactionprocessing. The advertisement in the comment can thus be afforded withan even better ability to attract customers. Moreover, since the commentis displayed as a comment by “Takuya”, who is a related user, otherusers can recognize that a related user is using the advertiser's site,which lowers their psychological barrier against executing transactionprocessing on the advertiser's site. Accordingly, the advertising effectof the comment can be increased to the same level as a word-of-mouthadvertising effect.

When “Nami”, who is a related user, clicks on the link information in anautomatic comment 1407 displayed on the personal page 1400, Nami'scommunication terminal 100 is connected to the advertiser server 101(step S804), and subsequent steps S805 to S813 are executed in the sameway. At this point, the performance reward control unit 112 may grantpredetermined reward to “Takuya”, who is the member/user correspondingto the automatic comment in FIG. 14 that served as the opportunity forNami's communication terminal 100 to connect to the advertiser server101. Thus granting reward to the member/user corresponding to theautomatic comment when a related user connects to the advertiser server101 can further increase the incentive for members/users to connect tothe advertiser server, thereby allowing for more effective provision ofadvertisements.

(1.6) Modifications

While a method has been described in which receipt of a performancenotification from the advertiser server 101 serves as the opportunityfor automatic comment posting, this example is not limiting. Forexample, in Embodiment 1, transaction processing on a commercial websiteis described as reward applicable process, yet simply connecting to theadvertiser server 101 may be reward applicable process. In this case,the following structure may be adopted. First, when the terminal device100 connects to the advertiser server 101 by clicking on an advertisingbanner or the like (step S804), the performance reward control unit 112retrieves the advertisement identifier associated with the advertisingbanner. The performance reward control unit 112 may store theadvertisement identifier in the reward applicable process managementdatabase 115.

Furthermore, a performance notification received from the server of anadvertisement service provider (ASP server) other than the advertiserserver 101 may be treated as an opportunity for automatic commentposting. In the case of an intermediary ASP server, the communicationterminal 100 first connects to the ASP server when the advertisingbanner is clicked, and a session ID is provided on the ASP server. Thesession ID is used for tracking. Subsequently, the communicationterminal 100 connects (redirects) to the advertiser server 101. Theperformance notification from the advertiser server 101 is transmittedto the ASP server along with the session ID. Upon receiving theperformance notification and the session ID, the ASP server identifiesthe user from the session ID and grants points to the identified user.

An example of displaying an avatar along with the comments in thecomment display regions 1305, 1405, and the like has been illustrated,yet this example is not limiting. Alternatively, comments may bedisplayed alone.

Within the comments, “Takuya” is one piece of user informationpertaining to the user identifier of the user who posted the comment.Other examples include the user's name or the like. Furthermore, the“500 points” in the comment represents the number of points granted fora connection request to the advertiser server and may be a differentnumber.

While the granting of points has been described above, this example isnot limiting. The granting of goods, services, or cash may be stored inthe user management database 100. Image data or the like for decoratingan avatar has exchange value on the SNS site, and alternatively thegranting of such image data may be stored in the user managementdatabase 100.

Note that connection to the advertiser server in step S804 is executedby clicking on the advertising banner on the personal page of user“Takuya”, yet connection is not limited in this way. Connection to theadvertiser server may be executed by clicking on an advertising bannerlocated on any page on the SNS site.

Furthermore, while the case of link information being included inadvance in the comment text data has been described, the linkinformation is not limited in this way. For example, the followingstructure may be adopted. First, comment text data that does not includelink information is stored in the advertisement management table 1100.The SNS site control unit 108 retrieves both the comment text data andlink information from the advertisement management table 1100 and amendsthe retrieved comment text data to add the link information. The SNSsite control unit 108 then stores the amended comment text data in thecomment management database 114.

(2) Embodiment 2

(2.1) Structure of SNS Server 1502

The following describes Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 15is a block diagram illustrating the structure of Embodiment 2 of thepresent invention. Structures that are the same as in Embodiment 1 areprovided below with the same labels, and a description thereof isomitted. In the advertisement providing system according to Embodiment2, the SNS server 1502 includes a participating user management database1501. Furthermore, in Embodiment 2, the advertising banner, textadvertisement, and the like do not have associated therewith linkinformation for connecting to the commercial website provided by theadvertiser server, but rather link information for connecting to anintermediate page, described below. Also, the user is made to decidewhether to execute automatic comment posting. In Embodiment 2, two typesof points are provided: regular points and additional points. Whenpredetermined conditions are satisfied, the additional points are alsogranted to a user. In Embodiment 2, two types of comment text data arealso provided, and different wording is used for the automatic commentposting before and after predetermined conditions are satisfied.

The participating user management database 1501 stores the useridentifier included in the performance notification and is used tomanage, for each user identifier, whether automatic comment posting isto be executed for a predetermined advertisement identifier.

FIG. 16 illustrates a performance reward management table 1600 stored inthe performance reward management database 801 of Embodiment 2. Anadvertisement identifier is stored in the first column 1601 of theperformance reward management table 1600, the number of regular pointsis stored in the second column 1602, and the number of additional pointsis stored in the third column 1603. The number of points in Embodiment 2is modified depending on the number of users of the communicationterminal 100 who have executed transaction processing corresponding toreward applicable process (hereinafter referred to as the “number ofparticipating users”). Specifically, when the number of participatingusers who participate in reward applicable process such as memberregistration on the advertiser's site reaches a certain number, each ofthe participating users is granted additional points in addition to theregular points. The performance reward management table 1600 is storedin advance at the time of system operation.

FIG. 17 illustrates an advertisement management table 1700 stored in theadvertisement management database 117 of Embodiment 2. The advertisementmanagement table 1700 stores, in association, an advertisementidentifier, link information for connecting to the commercial websiteprovided by the advertiser server, a starting period and an endingperiod, a prescribed number of participating users and a current numberof participating users, and pre-satisfaction comment text data andpost-satisfaction comment text data each made up of a predeterminedcharacter sequence. In Embodiment 2, the advertisement identifier isstored in the first column 1701 and the URL of the advertiser site isstored as the link information in the second column 1702 of theadvertisement management table 1700. The starting period is stored inthe third column 1703, and the ending period is stored in the fourthcolumn 1704. The time periods designated by the starting period and theending period are time period conditions for granting the regular pointsand the additional points. The number of participating users prescribedas a condition for granting the additional points (hereinafter referredto as “prescribed number of participating users”) is stored in the fifthcolumn 1705, and the current number of participating users, whichindicates the number of participating users at the current point intime, is stored in the sixth column 1706. The pre-satisfaction commenttext data is stored in the seventh column 1707, and thepost-satisfaction comment text data is stored in the eighth column 1708.The pre-satisfaction comment text data is used for automatic commentposting before conditions for granting the additional points aresatisfied (pre-satisfaction), whereas the post-satisfaction comment textdata is used for automatic comment posting after conditions for grantingthe additional points have been satisfied (post-satisfaction).

FIG. 18 illustrates a participating user management table 1800 stored inthe participating user management database 1501. An advertisementidentifier is stored in the first column 1801 of the participating usermanagement table 1800, and the user identifier included in a performancenotification is stored in the second column 1802. Information indicatingwhether to allow execution of automatic comment posting by the SNS sitecontrol unit 108 is stored in the third column 1803. In the table,“accept” indicates acceptance of automatic comment posting, and “reject”indicates rejection of automatic comment posting. The granting status ofadditional points is stored in the fourth column 1804.

(2.2) Operations of Advertisement Providing System

Next, operations by the advertisement providing system in Embodiment 2are described with reference to FIGS. 19 and 21.

(2.2.1) Operations by Advertisement Providing System for Granting ofRegular Points and Automatic Comment Posting

FIG. 19 illustrates operations for granting points by the advertisementproviding system in Embodiment 2. Operations in FIG. 19 that are thesame as in Embodiment 1 are provided with the same labels, and adescription thereof is omitted.

In step S1904, the communication terminal 100 transmits a connectionrequest to an intermediate page by a member/user clicking on anadvertising banner or the like. At this point, the advertisementidentifier for the advertising banner is also transmitted. Uponreceiving the connection request, the SNS server 1502 transmitsintermediate page data to the communication terminal 100 to ask themember/user whether to execute automatic comment posting (step S1905).The intermediate page is so named since it is displayed between apredetermined webpage on the SNS site on which an advertising banner,text advertisement, or the like is displayed and a predetermined webpageon the commercial website provided by the advertiser server 101.

In step S1906, the intermediate page is displayed on the display of thecommunication terminal 100. FIG. 20 illustrates an example of thedisplayed intermediate page. An intermediate page 2000 is provided atleast with a checkbox region 2001 and a movement button 2002 to theadvertiser server 101. Link information to the advertiser server 101 isassociated with the movement button 2002, which upon being clickedcauses the communication terminal 100 to connect to the advertiserserver 101. A checkbox for whether or not to accept automatic commentposting is provided in the checkbox region 2001. Based on theadvertisement identifier, conditions for granting points pertaining tothe advertisement are also displayed. Checking the “accept” checkbox soas to enter a checkmark indicates the intention to accept automaticcomment posting, whereas checking the “do not accept” checkbox so as toenter a checkmark indicates the intention to reject automatic commentposting. In the intermediate page 2000 illustrated in FIG. 20, thecheckbox to “accept” automatic comment posting has been clicked and isin a selected state. Note that the intermediate page may also have onlyan “accept” checkbox provided thereon.

Subsequently, in step S1907, when the member/user clicks on the movementbutton 2002 using the communication terminal 100, the communicationterminal 100 transmits the advertisement identifier, the useridentifier, and the information on acceptance or rejection of automaticcomment posting to the SNS server 1502. Next, in step S1908, theperformance reward control unit 112 stores the advertisement identifier,the user identifier, the acceptance or rejection of automatic commentposting, and the granting status of additional points in theparticipating user management database 1501. In this example, “AID001,“UID001”, and “accept” are respectively stored as the advertisementidentifier, the user identifier, and the acceptance or rejection ofcomment posting. Since additional points have not yet been granted atthis time, a status of “not granted” is stored. Note that if theacceptance or rejection of comment posting in step S1907 is “do notaccept”, then “reject” is stored in the column for the acceptance orrejection of comment posting. Next, the communication terminal 100connects to the advertiser server 101 (step S1909). After connection tothe advertiser server 101, transaction processing is executed in stepS1910, and in step S1911 a performance notification is transmitted tothe SNS server 1502 either directly from the advertiser server or via anon-illustrated ASP server.

Upon receiving the performance notification, the performance rewardcontrol unit 112 stores information pertaining to the performancenotification in the reward applicable process management database 115 instep S1912. Below, the performance notification is described asincluding a time “t1” as the time of execution of the transactionprocessing.

Next, in step S1913, the performance reward control unit 112 refers tothe reward applicable process management database 115 to retrieve acombination of a user identifier and an advertisement identifier forwhich the reward granting status is “not granted”. In this case, theuser identifier “UID001” and the advertisement identifier “AID001” areretrieved as the combination for which the reward granting status is“not granted”.

In the following step S1914, the performance reward control unit 112refers to the performance reward management database 116 to retrieve thenumber of regular points for the advertisement identifier “AID001” forwhich the reward granting status was “not granted”. In this case, theperformance reward control unit 112 retrieves 500 points as the numberof points for the advertisement identifier “AID001”.

Next, in step S1915, the performance reward control unit 112 grantspoints to the user. Specifically, the performance reward control unit112 adds the number of points retrieved in step S1914 to the points heldby the user identifier “UID001” for which the performance notificationwas received. In other words, 500 points are added to the points of theuser identifier “UID001” stored in the user management database 110. Asa result, the number of points held by the user “Takuya” becomes 930.

Next, the SNS site control unit 108 refers to the advertisementmanagement database 117 to retrieve information pertaining to theadvertisement identifier “AID001” (step S1916). At this point, the SNSsite control unit 108 retrieves the starting period and the endingperiod corresponding to the advertisement identifier retrieved in stepS1913 and proceeds to step S1918.

The SNS site control unit 108 terminates processing when theadvertisement identifier retrieved in step S1913 does not exist in theadvertisement management database 117 (step S1916). In this case, sincethe advertisement identifier “AID001” is stored in the advertisementmanagement database 117, processing proceeds to step S1917.

In the following step S1918, the SNS site control unit 108 refers to thereward applicable process management database 115 to retrieve the timeof execution of the transaction processing. In this case, time “t1” isretrieved. Next, the SNS site control unit 108 compares the retrievedtime of execution “t1” with the starting period and the ending periodamong the information pertaining to the advertisement identifier“AID001” retrieved in step S1915 (step S1919). Processing proceeds tostep S1920 if “t1” is between the starting period and the ending period,whereas processing terminates if “t1” is earlier than the startingperiod or later than the ending period. “t1” is described here as beingbetween the starting period and the ending period.

Next, in step S1920, the SNS site control unit 108 updates theinformation in the advertisement management database 115 and retrievescomment text data. Specifically, the SNS site control unit 108 updatesthe advertisement management table 1700 in the advertisement managementdatabase 115 by adding one to the current number of participating usersin the table. In other words, in this example the current number ofparticipating users for the advertisement identifier “AID001” is updatedfrom 423 to 424.

Furthermore, the SNS site control unit 108 compares the updated currentnumber of participating users with the prescribed number ofparticipating users. Upon comparison, if the current number ofparticipating users is less than the prescribed number of participatingusers, the SNS site control unit 108 retrieves the pre-satisfactioncomment text data in the seventh column 1707. At this point, thepre-satisfaction comment text data is retrieved by replacing the portion“(prescribed number of participating users—current number ofparticipating users)” therein with the value resulting after subtractingthe current number of participating users from the prescribed number ofparticipating users. If the current number of participating users isequal to or greater than the prescribed number of participating users,the SNS site control unit 108 retrieves the post-satisfaction commenttext data in the eighth column 1708. In this example, since the currentnumber of participating users is 424, which is less than the prescribednumber of participating users, i.e. 500, the following comment text datain the seventh column 1707 is retrieved: “I got 500 points during acampaign! More points after 76 more people register! Campaign lastsuntil 5/10, 22:00! Get some points with me http://URL001/”.

Next, in step S1921, based on the information on acceptance or rejectionof automatic comment posting stored in the participating user managementdatabase 1501 in step S1908, the SNS site control unit 108 proceeds tostep S1922 when automatic comment posting has been accepted. Conversely,processing terminates when automatic comment posting has been rejected.Next, in step S1922, the SNS site control unit 108 refers to the usermanagement database 110 to retrieve the username corresponding to theuser identifier and refers to the timing unit 113 to retrieve thecurrent time as the post time. Finally, in step S1923, the SNS sitecontrol unit 108 stores automatic comment data including the useridentifier, the username, the post time, and the comment text dataretrieved in step S1919 in the comment management database 114. Bystoring the automatic comment data that includes the comment text datain the comment management database, “I got 500 points during a campaign!300 more points after 76 more people register! Campaign lasts until5/10, 22:00! Get some points with me http://URL001” is displayed on thepersonal page of the user “Takuya” and of his related users.

(2.2.2) Operations for Granting of Additional Points

Next, FIG. 21 illustrates operations for granting additional points bythe advertisement providing system in Embodiment 2. These operations areexecuted for all advertisement identifiers. Below, an example ofoperations for the advertisement identifier “AID001” is described, yetoperations are executed similarly for other advertisement identifiers aswell. Furthermore, the operations are periodically repeated by the SNSserver 1502.

First, in step S2101, the performance reward control unit 112 retrievesinformation on the advertisement identifier “AID001” stored in theadvertisement management database 117. Specifically, in the subsequentstep S2102, based on the retrieved information, the performance rewardcontrol unit 112 compares the current number of participating users andthe prescribed number of participating users for the advertisementcorresponding to each advertisement identifier to determine whether thecurrent number of participating users is equal to or greater than theprescribed number of participating users. Upon comparison, if thecurrent number of participating users is equal to or greater than theprescribed number of participating users, processing proceeds to stepS2103. If the current number of participating users is less than theprescribed number of participating users, processing returns to stepS2101, and similar processing is executed for another advertisementidentifier.

Next, in step S2103, the performance reward control unit 112 refers tothe participating user management database 1501 to retrieve the grantingstatus of additional points for the advertisement identifier “AID001”.In the following step S2104, the performance reward control unit 112determines whether a user to whom additional points have not beengranted exists, and if so, processing proceeds to step S2105.Conversely, when no user to whom additional points have not been grantedexists, processing returns to step S2101, and similar processing isexecuted for another advertisement identifier. Based on theparticipating user management table 1800 in the participating usermanagement database 1501, additional points have not been granted forAID001 to users “UID001” and “UID002”, and therefore processing proceedsto step S2105.

In the following step S2105, the performance reward control unit 112refers to the performance reward management database 116 to retrieve thenumber of additional points for the advertisement identifier “AID001”for which the reward granting status was “not granted”. Based on thethird column 1603 in the performance reward management table 1600, theperformance reward control unit 112 retrieves 300 points as the numberof additional points for the advertisement identifier “AID001”.

Next, in step S2106, the performance reward control unit 112 grants theadditional points to users. Specifically, the performance reward controlunit 112 adds the number of additional points retrieved in step S2105 tothe points held by the user identifiers “UID001” and “UID002” for whichthe performance notification was received. In other words, 300 pointsare added as additional points to the points of both user identifiers“UID001” and “UID002” stored in the user management database 110.

Next, in step S2107, the performance reward control unit 112 updates thereward granting status in the participating user management database1501 to “granted” for the user identifiers to which additional pointswere granted. FIG. 22 illustrates an updated participating usermanagement table 2200. As illustrated in FIG. 22, the additional rewardgranting status in the fourth column 2204 is updated.

Once step S2107 is complete, processing returns to step S2101, andsimilar processing is subsequently repeated periodically for eachadvertisement identifier.

(2.3) Effects of Advertisement Providing System of Embodiment 2

In this way, in the advertisement providing system of Embodiment 2, thedifference between the prescribed number of participating users and thecurrent number of participating users, i.e. the remaining number ofpeople until reaching the prescribed number of participating users, islisted in a comment. The number of additional points when the currentnumber of participating users reaches the prescribed number ofparticipating users is also listed in the comment. Therefore, inaddition to a similar effect to word-of-mouth, users can quantitativelygrasp the degree of interest of other users in the advertiser's site andcan earn additional points when certain conditions are satisfied,thereby even further heightening the ability to attract customers.

On the other hand, when automatic comment posting has been rejectedbased on the information stored in the participating user managementdatabase 1501, processing terminates without a comment being displayed.

Since users are thus asked whether to accept execution of automaticcomment posting, users who do not wish to display information regardingtheir transactions can reject automatic comment posting, which is usefulwhen users wish to guard their privacy.

In Embodiment 2 above, an advertisement identifier, a number of regularpoints, and a number of additional points are stored in association inthe performance reward management table 1600, as illustrated in FIG. 16,but this example is not limiting. For example, a first advertisementidentifier for regular points and a second advertisement identifier foradditional points may be allocated for one advertisement, with only onetype of points being associated with one advertisement identifier in theperformance reward management table 1600. As the number of points to begranted, the performance reward control unit 112 may then retrieve thenumber of points associated with the first advertisement identifier whengranting regular points and retrieve the number of points associatedwith the second advertisement identifier when granting additionalpoints.

(3) Embodiment 3

(3.1) Structure of Advertisement Providing System of Embodiment 3

The following describes Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Embodiment 3 describes the case in which the communication terminal 100connects to the advertiser server 101 without going through the SNSserver 102 and executes transaction processing corresponding to rewardapplicable process on the commercial website provided by the advertiserserver 101. Specifically, in the advertisement providing system ofEmbodiment 3, the commercial website is configured by a webpage forpurchasing goods or the like in which link information to the SNS server1502 is included. The remaining structure is the same as Embodiment 1 ofthe present invention, and therefore a description thereof is omitted.

(3.2) Operations of Advertisement Providing System of Embodiment 3

Operations by the advertisement providing system in Embodiment 3 aredescribed with reference to FIG. 24. In step S2401, the communicationterminal 100 connects to the advertiser server 101 based on input by themember/user and displays a predetermined webpage for purchasing goods orthe like. Next, the transaction processing unit 106 of the advertiserserver 101 executes transaction processing with the communicationterminal 100 (step S2402). Upon completion of the transactionprocessing, the advertiser server 101 transmits a login confirmationpage to the communication terminal (step S2403). The login confirmationpage is, for example, provided with a login information input region forinputting login information necessary to log into the SNS site (useridentifier, username, e-mail address, or the like, together with apassword), a checkbox region for the user to select whether to acceptautomatic comment posting, and a movement button with which linkinformation to the SNS server 102 is associated. In this example, theadvertiser server 101 is an advertiser server pertaining to anadvertisement identified by the advertisement identifier “AID001”.

Subsequently, in step S2404, the communication terminal 100 connects tothe SNS server 102 based on the user clicking the movement button, andin the following step S2405, based on the user management database 110,the SNS site control unit 108 retrieves the user identifier of thecommunication terminal 100 that connected to the SNS server 102. In thisexample, the user of the connecting communication terminal 100 is themember/user “Takuya”.

If the input login information (user identifier, username, e-mailaddress, or the like, together with a password) is correct, processingproceeds to step S807. Processing from step S807 onwards is the same asin steps S807 through S814 in Embodiment 1.

(3.3) Effects of Advertisement Providing System of Embodiment 3

Link information to the SNS server 102 is thus placed on the webpage forpurchasing goods or the like provided by the advertiser server, and theSNS site control unit 108 of the SNS server 102 executes automaticcomment posting upon connection to the SNS server 102 using this linkinformation. As a result, even if a member/user executes transactionprocessing when visiting the advertiser server 101 directly, withoutgoing through the SNS server 102, the SNS server 102 can executeautomatic content posting. Users other than a user who executes thetransaction processing by utilizing link information to the advertiserserver 102 provided in the SNS site can therefore be targeted forautomatic comment posting, thereby increasing the number ofautomatically posted comments and further heightening the advertisingeffect of the advertisements.

The present invention has been described based on the drawings and onexamples, yet it should be noted that a person of skill in the art couldeasily make a variety of modifications and adjustments based on thepresent disclosure. Accordingly, these modifications and adjustments areto be understood as included in the scope of the present invention. Forexample, the functions and the like included in the various members,units, and steps may be reordered in any logically consistent way.Furthermore, units, steps, and the like may be combined into one ordivided.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   100: Communication terminal-   101: Advertiser server-   102: SNS server-   103: Internet-   104: Advertiser site content database-   105: Advertiser site control unit-   106: Transaction processing unit-   107: SNS site content database-   108: SNS site control unit-   109: User information control unit-   110: User management database-   111: User identifier retrieving unit-   112: Performance reward control unit-   113: Timing unit-   114: Comment management database-   115: Reward applicable process management database-   116: Performance reward management database-   117: Advertisement management database-   200: User management table-   201-207: First to seventh columns-   400: Comment management table-   401-405: First to fifth columns-   600, 700, 1300, 1400: Personal page-   601, 701, 1301, 1401: Avatar display region-   602, 702, 1302, 1402: Menu region-   603, 703, 1303, 1403: Comment input form-   604, 704, 1304, 1404: Transmission button-   605, 705, 1305, 1405: Comment display region-   606, 706, 1306, 1406: Advertisement display region-   607, 708, 1311, 1307, 1309, 1407: Comment-   609, 710, 1312, 1308, 1310, 1408: Avatar-   900: Performance targeted processing management table-   901-904: First to fourth columns-   1000: Performance reward management table-   1001-1002: First and second columns-   1100: Advertisement management table-   1101-1103: First to third columns-   1200: Comment management table-   1501: Participating user management database-   1600: Performance reward management table-   1601-1603: First to third columns-   1700: Advertisement management table-   1701-1708: First to eighth columns-   1800: Participating user management table-   1801-1804: First to fourth columns-   2000: Intermediate page-   2001: Checkbox region-   2002: Link information-   2200: Participating user management table-   2300: Comment management table

1. A server, comprising: a user management database storing a first user identifier allocated to a first user in association with a second user identifier allocated to a second user; a control unit causing a display unit of a first communication terminal used by the first user to display content data by transmitting the content data to the first communication terminal; a reception unit receiving a performance notification that includes the second user identifier when a reward applicable process is executed by the second user in a predetermined service provided by an external server; and a performance reward control unit granting a first performance reward to the second user in response to reception of the performance notification by the reception unit, wherein the control unit transmits comment data as the content data to the first communication terminal when the reception unit received the performance notification, and the comment data includes link information for connecting to the predetermined service.
 2. The server according to claim 1, wherein the control unit transmits the comment data as the content data to the first communication terminal in response to an acceptance from the second user.
 3. The server according to claim 1, wherein the performance reward control unit further grants a second performance reward to the second user when a predetermined condition is satisfied.
 4. The server according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined condition is that the number of users who executed the reward applicable process in the predetermined service has reached a predetermined number.
 5. The server according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined condition is that the first communication terminal has connected to the predetermined service based on the link information included in the comment data transmitted to the first communication terminal and the first user has executed the reward applicable process in the predetermined service.
 6. The server according to claim 1, wherein the comment data is displayed in a comment display region of a page allocated to the first user.
 7. A communication terminal that connects to a server, comprising: a communication unit transmitting, to the server, a first user identifier allocated to a first user, and receiving content data from the server; and a display unit displaying the content data, wherein the communication unit receives, from the server, comment data as the content data when a second user executed a reward applicable process in a service provided by an external server, the second user is allocated a second user identifier that is associated with the first user identifier, and the comment data includes link information for connecting to the predetermined service.
 8. The communication terminal according to claim 7, wherein the server grants a first performance reward to the second user when the second user executed the reward applicable process.
 9. A method of providing an advertisement to a communication terminal that connects to a server, comprising: transmitting, to the server, a first user identifier allocated to a first user; receiving content data from the server; and displaying the content data; wherein, in the receiving the content data, comment data is received as the content data from the server when a second user executed a reward applicable process in a service provided by an external server, the second user is allocated a second user identifier that is associated with the first user identifier, and the comment data includes link information for connecting to the predetermined service.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the server grants a first performance reward to the second user when the second user executed the reward applicable process. 